Don’t look now, but the Bellaire Big Reds are on a winning streak.

After opening the season by dropping back-to-back games to River and Wheeling Central, Bellaire has rebounded quite well with wins over Harrison Central and John Marshall.

The Big Reds basically dominated the Monarchs, pitching a shutout. Bellaire has shown it can got it done offensively with the run or pass. It used the passing game with Mason Ramsay finding speedy targets D’eondre Burney and Justyn Keyser time and time again. Last week, it was Tyson Camsky’s turn to shine on the ground. He ran for better than 200 yards and scored all three of his team’s touchdowns.

Meanwhile, Mark Spigarelli’s defense is growing up a little bit more each week. As they continue to adapt to Spigarelli’s 3-3-5 defense, the Big Reds are getting better.

A big part of the success Bellaire is having this season has to do with talented veterans. The last few years Bellaire has relied on underclassmen at key positions. Those younger kids have grown up and matured and the results are evident.

Bellaire will be heavily favored to stretch its winning streak to three this week when it welcomes Buckeye Local for a 12:30 p.m. game. A road trip to Steubenville Central awaits in week 6 before venturing to St. Clairsville and Shadyside in weeks seven and eight. Union Local and Martins Ferry lurk at the end.

The Big Reds will compete well in all of those games. Will they win them all? I don’t know. Will they lose them all? I don’t know that either. And that has nothing to do with Bellaire as much as it has to do with these games are hard to predict because all of the teams are pretty event.

With the balance they’ve been able to achieve on offense along with a defensive unit that’s improving and growing more and more stingy, Bellaire’s going to be a handful. Ramsay, Burney, Keyser and Camsky are four guys that give defensive coordinators nightmares because they can all score from anywhere from the field.

SHOWDOWN IN GEM CITY

The game of the week on the Ohio Valley high school football slate is slated for Clark Hinkle Memorial Stadium in Toronto where the Red Knights will welcome fellow unbeaten, Shadyside.

Both teams not only enter at 4-0, but the Red Knights and Tigers are also ranked sixth and eighth, respectively, in today’s Division VII Associated Press State Poll.

Quite simply, the Tigers have had the Red Knights’ number in this series, which is expected to come to an end after this season. The Belmont Countians have won the last 12 meetings, including last season when Shadyside used the 14-9 victory as a springboard to a late-season surge that resulted in another playoff berth.

Many of the last 12 games between the two schools have been especially one-sided. I don’t expect anything like that for Friday. Toronto is a quality squad.

The Tigers will have to find a way to slow down a Red Knights’ squad averaging almost 38 points a game. Shadyside’s defense is allowing 24.5 points.

On the other side of the coin, however, Shadyside has been scoring points in bunches. Senior Alex Krupa has developed into one of the area’s premier running backs and is coming off a five-touchdown performance last week. Billy Johnson has picked up where he left off last season — both as a thrower and runner. Connor Banco’s development and versatility has been impressive and Chase Wade is a go-to-guy in the passing game.

It’s going to be a heck of a football game and is actually the first of quite a stretch of games for Shadyside. After the trip to Toronto, Shadyside has a road trip to River before hosting Wheeling Central and Bellaire in weeks seven and eight, respectively.

WORKING OVERTIME

While the play in Martins Ferry’s double overtime win at St. Clairsville wasn’t always crisp, it was definitely a game that kept the large crowd on the edge of its seat for 48 minutes and then some.

Not many high school games end with a walk-off field goal, but freshman Cody Olson’s left foot allowed it to happen for the Purple Riders. It was a defensive struggle throughout. Overall, St. Clairsville had more success moving the ball as Martins Ferry’s run game was bottled up quite well most of the night by the Devils. The Riders struggled with the passing game as they utilized both Dalton Hoover and freshman Jacob Probst at quarterback.

But, when it mattered most, the Riders found a way to complete enough passes and got Hoover and Jacob Johnson enough running room to find the end zone. Ferry’s defense, which received 20 tackles from Hoover and strong play from Demtrius Dokes at end, stiffened when it need it the most to get the game into OT.

Though only Martins Ferry left Red Devil Stadium happy on Friday, both teams can take a lot of lessons from that game.

If you enjoyed that game, settle in, because there are going to be more like that in the coming weeks throughout the Buckeye 8 South division.

WHERE WAS THE DEFENSE?

It’s probably safe to guess that many area head coaches are spending more time on the defensive side of the ball this week.

There were some astronomical numbers put up last week as scoreboard operators received a workout.

How about these numbers:

Barnesville and Buckeye Trail combined for 1,029 yards and 104 points.

Shadyside and Meadowbrook went for 908 yards and 89 points.

River and Magnolia combined for 851 yards and 87 points.

Union Local and Harrison Central posted 769 yards and 71 points.

These numbers — even a few days later — are just mind boggling to me.

STUNNER OF THE WEEK

The award goes to Barnesville. After building what looked like a commanding 42-14 lead in the middle portion of the second quarter, Buckeye Trail came roaring back and shocked the Shamrocks, 54-50.

Senior running back Caide Bunfill continued his impressive season with 369 yards rushing, but a couple of late Barnesville turnovers and impressive play of Trail quarterback Troy Pontius resulted in the Shamrocks suffering a defeat for the first time this season.

Often times players rebound from losses quicker than coaches and that will need to be the case for the Shamrocks. While the way they lost the game will probably resonate for a while, the fact there is a lot of season left must move to the forefront.

Barnesville will need to shake it off quickly because with playing only nine games, they really can’t afford too many more hiccups. It meets currently undefeated Union Local in week 10, but between now and then are some games that won’t yield too many points. Having Rosecrans with three wins thus far in week eight could prove beneficial.

POLL WATCHING

The Ohio High School Athletic Association will release its first computer rankings, which are used to determine the 224 schools that will extend their seasons into at least week 11. Throughout the remainder of the season, the standings will be released on Wednesday.

The second Associated Press is contained on today’s agate page. All told, four OVAC teams are contained inside the top 10, including Steubenville, which sits atop the Division IV poll. Fort Frye is listed in Division VI, while Toronto and Shadyside are sixth and eighth, respectively in Division VII.

WHAT A WEAPON

Steubenville is 4-0 entering a home game with Dover this Friday. I’ve not seen Big Red play live, but from following them, they got a lot better last week. I saw the highlights from their win at Youngstown Boardman and the few plays I saw from senior wide receiver Charles Reeves simply made me shake my head in amazement.

He caught a touchdown from Javon Davis where he was being blanketed by the Boardman defender and simply went up and snagged the ball with basically one hand. He caught another touchdown later in the contest, too.

It doesn’t take much film study to see why numerous Division I schools have offered Reeves a scholarship. He’s simply a man among boys on the field.

CHECKING IN ON THE LOCALS

JOHN MAGISTRO’S Westerville Central squad dropped to 1-3 on the season after a 45-16 setback at the hands of undefeated Pickerington North. The Warhawks are at 3-1 Reynoldsburg this week.

MIKE ORLANDO directed his Cincinnati Archbishop McNicholas squad to its first win of the season last week over Roger Bacon, 30-27. The Rockets take on Cincinnati Purcel Marian this week.

LEVI NELSON’s Rittman squad fell for the second straight weekend. The Indians dropped a 56-27 decision to Dalton. They’ll try to get back on track Friday at 3-1 Smithville.

FRED RAY’s Fairview squad got its third win in five games last Friday, defeating East Carter, 32-20. It will next go on the road to Logan County.

Staskey can be reached via email at sstaskey@timesleaderonline.com